700 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
[April i. !89S. 
The Value of Estate Property in Hunas- 
GiRiFA District,— may be judged from the fact 
tliat 190 acres of tea and 154 of waste and reserve 
on Weygalla realized £6,500 — a good bargain, 
we should say, for the purchaser Mr. Beilby. The 
half of Hunagalla is equal to 215 acres tea and 
114 reserve or waste and realized £7,250. — We have 
not heard the price paid for Oruiondale in Alla- 
galla ; but it is sure to be handsome for such 
young tea. on virgin soil. 
Du.st Tea Wanted for South America.— 
We have to thank Mr. Thos. Christy, F. L. S.d 
of Lime Street, for the very welcome news ito 
Ceylon planters, of a special demand setting an 
for Eastern teas (even if for China as well as 
Ceylon) on behalf of the consumers of the Para- 
guayn Mate tea in South America. It would 
seem from what Mr. Christy says that Mate may 
be altogether superseded and he thinks that Ceylon 
and Indian “dust ’ tea is just the article required 
in substitution. Altogether there are forty to fifty 
million of people in South Amei ica, and perhaps one- 
half may be taken to be patronizers of mate; while 
nearly all may be tempted to become patrons of 
our teas if they put attractivetly before them. 
The Copperah Market : A rise in Prices. — 
The market for copperah has gone up rapidly 
during the last four days, and dealers are bring- 
ing into Colombo anything and everything they 
can get to take advantage of the rise. “ Cart” 
copperah as a rule fetches much less than “ boat” 
copperah, and, owing to this, the former is being 
thrown into boats, and the arrivals of carts are 
almost nil. Well dried estate and Calpentyu, 
which fetched K39'50 per candy a few weeks 
ago, is now selling at K42, and iMarawilla, Ma- 
dampe and other interior grades, mixed with 
black and tender refuse, are fetching It40 and 
1141 per candy. It is to be regretted that prices 
are being run up, considering the low state of the 
oil market, and in view of the forthcoming crops 
which are said to be heavy. — Cor. of local “Times.” 
CEYLON V. Indian and Java Teas.— A very 
careful and experienced Ceylon tea planter and 
maker, discussing the letter of the Lane 
expert to Mr. Wm. Mackenzie, says that in 
appearance, Ceylon upcouutry teas as a rule 
can never equal Indian or Java teas on 
account of the more flexible leaf of the latter 
as compared with the generally stift’er or leathery 
high grown Ceylon leaf. It is also only 
natural, that teas from the rich heavy soils of 
Assam and Java should have a fuller “body” 
than much of the Ceylon tea ; but in the actual 
work of “ rolling,” which the expert thought was 
deficient in the case of Ceylon teas, as a matter 
of fact our teas are often rolletl for a much longer 
time than those of Assam. It is not therefore, 
a case of the Ceylon planter refusing to profit 
by outside experience ; but tl.e requirements 
mentioned are just what cannot be provided as 
a rule in the case of Ceylon teas, although in 
other respects they score over the teas of both 
India and Java. 
Tea in Kussia. -Here is how the London 
Tea Letter of The Planter deals with this ques- 
tion very sensibly ; — 
The total consumption in Russia is, I am told, about 
120,000,000 lb-, of which in the year just ended perhaps 
four per cent came from Ceylon. Of Indian teas, to 
use the language of analytical chemists, there was 
little more than “ a trace.” So tliat here as in the 
United States there is, even among present con- 
sumers, a big fi id open for missionary enterprise. 
Outside that heltl tli possibilities of the future are 
practically unlimit. . Hni in one respect the pro- 
blem in Russia differs essentially from that in 
America. In the United States the non tea drinkers 
are at present coffee drinkers almost to a man, the 
consumption of coffee running as high as 10 lb. per 
head of population, and the battle of tea has, in 
fact to be waged against tne fragrant berry already 
holding the field. The very low price at present 
ruling for coffee is, of course, an adverse element 
in the struggle. In Russia, on the contrary, tea is 
already the favourite beverage, and the consumption 
is limited, not by the existing taste for any com- 
peting rival, but solely by the absurd conservative, 
obstructive, ways of the Russians themselves. Gov- 
ernment and traders both seem to co.nbine to 
crush any tendency towards expansion of demand 
by high duties and big profits, the object being 
to confine the trade as far as possible to the few 
firms who at present hold it in their hands. A duty 
of ITO^d per lb. on entering the country, obstruct 
tive regulaticus as the packing of teas for sale retail, 
result in prices for even teas of the poorest class 
that except to the well-to-do, are prohibitive. The 
enemy then to be fought in Russia is the system. 
The taste for tea is already established, let the diuies 
be reduced, and distiibution be made free of tram- 
mels, and the result would be seen not only in an en- 
ormously increased consumption, but also in a revenue 
advancing by leaps and bounds sucii as in da) s past 
used here to delight iMr. Gladstone. 
Who will enlighten the Kus.sian Fiiiiince Minister ? 
“ The Tea Planters’ Memorial.”— S uch is 
the nominal heading we liiid in the Mauritius 
Planters’ Gazette of 1st March. The striking- fact 
is that there should be more than one or two tea 
planters already in the SugaiTsland. They are peti- 
tioning for a rise in the im])ort duty on tea and 
no wonder, tor we read. — 
At the present time the duty on imported teas is 
ROTO per kilo. So far as we have been able to ascer- 
tain this is the lowest duty paid in any country, be it 
a British or Foreign possession. It is scarcely ne- 
cessary to give a tabulated statement of the duties 
exacted in various countries : sufficient to say that 
that range from OTO per kilo for 4J cls per lb. — ! -Ed. 
C.0.1 — in Mauritius to about Rl-i2 per lb in India! 
[This is absurd : the Indian duty is & per cent on a 
value of 50 cts per lb for black tea and 75 cts for green 
tea — therefore only 2^ cts per lb for ordinary tea 1 
—Ed. (7.O.] In Ceylon duty on imported teas is 
RO'25 per lb. Those who drink tea in Mauritius have 
to pay from 80 to 90 cents per lb. for what they buy. 
The average price for teas disposed of at the weekly 
sales in the Colombo mirket, is about RO'36 per lb. 
Even assuming that the tea imported into Mauritius 
costs this figure — but we do not think it does 
after adding freight, landing charges, duty etc., it 
stands the imported in, at the very outside, R0'50 
per lb. There is therefore a profit of between 30 and 
40 cets per lb or nearly 80 % on the cost price, to be 
divided between the importer and the retailer. It 
does not require very great intelligence to see 
that, at the present time, the cost of production and 
preparation to the Mauritius Tea Planter must be 
infinitely more than to his brother in Ceylon. The 
bushes are not, in the majority of cases, yet in full 
bearing, and the equipment of tea houses is, in most 
instances, crude and imperfect. The cost, therefore 
of marketable teas being greater, every assistance 
should be given the Mauritius planter to enable him 
to enter the local market on terms of equality with 
his more advanced competitor. Our impression is that 
a good drinkable tea can be offered to the public both 
by local Growers and Importers for RO'80 tbe pound, 
and if the Government would impose the same duty 
on imported tea as is done in Ceylon, viz; 25 cts per 
lb Mauritius and Foreign teas would compete in the 
local market on even terms. 
This i.s one result of leaving the absurd import 
duty of 25 cents per lb in tea in Ceylon ; Mauri- 
tius planters say rightly why should we not have 
the same duty — and so shut out Ceylon tea.s from 
Port Louis market. 
